This invention relates to a birthing drape having a portion positionable under the buttocks of a birthing woman and including a pouch for catching blood and other body fluids, the drape having a splash guard for directing splashing fluid into the pouch.
During the birthing process when a baby is being delivered body fluids including blood are expelled with the baby. In the prior art the delivering woman may be positioned with her legs in stirrups and have one end of a rectangular plastic drape under her buttocks, another end of the drape being disposed downwardly in a catch basket so that the body fluids flow downwardly into the bucket. This inefficient approach to catching the body fluids results in fluids escaping onto the floor especially splashing fluids. As a result of the recent HIV and AIDS epidemic it is now known that such escaping fluids create major health risks for hospital staff members. An attempt to solve this escaping fluid problem has resulted in a birthing drape having a built-in pouch for catching the body fluids. The drape has a trapezoidal shape on which the buttocks rests and the pouch merely hangs downwardly from the central portion. One difficulty with this construction is that the pouch tends to close. Another difficulty is that splashing fluids are not contained and they readily splash on staff members.